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Why are there so many zip files in my database? [Answered: see thread] Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
Quote:
Originally Posted by Brian View Post
I assume you've already done this, but open up Sync preferences on one of your macs and check the "Show Sync Clients" button. Are there duplicate entries or stale entries in the list? If so, you want to remove dupes and/or have the other machines sync to catch up.

If all dupes are removed and your devices are all caught up, you should see your database shrink after the first sync that's an hour later. (There are technical reasons that I can never remember when I'm writing one of these posts why we need to leave the files there for an hour.)
I've kept the sync devices list down to four actual and current devices, and all sync most days. No duplicate or stale items.

The hour delay business is unexpected and weird, but now that I let the database rest for an hour, my number of zip files has indeed gone down. It's something like 50, but that's much better than 200.

Thanks.
 
Re-titling thread to hopefully make more findable.
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Toadling View Post
Syncing seems to be working fine here -- no problems at all on 1.6 for my MacBook Pro and 1.2.1 for iPhone.

How many zipped transaction files are in your database? You can view this info by right-clicking on your database file and selecting "Show Package Contents". Or on the iPhone, tap the info button and scroll down.

As a point of comparison, I currently have 212 projects and 1821 actions stored in 7 zip files on my iPhone. Depending on how recently I've synced, it takes anywhere from about 1.5 seconds to 30 seconds to complete a sync on my iPhone via MobileMe over WiFi.

-Dennis
Where can I find more information about reducing the number of zip files? I sync frequently on both Mac and iPhone, archive old data every week or so, and yet with 33 projects and 173 actions I have a whopping 431 zip files.

My iPhone sync (through MobileMe) sometimes takes up to five minutes to complete, and I suspect this is the culprit.

edit: Whoa, I just did my fifth or sixth sync of the day, playing around to try to get a handle on things. Suddenly, before my eyes, my iPhone dropped down to 3 zip files. Strange; I don't get it, but if it stays low and my sync times stay fast, I'll be happy.

Last edited by Trustworthy; 2009-05-10 at 01:15 PM..
 
v1.6.1 for Mac & v1.2.3 for iPhone both contain a change that makes it easier for compactions to occur than it was in previous releases of OmniFocus. I suspect you just benefitted from that change. :-)
 
I sent an email to the Ninjas, but thought I'd post here in case someone has any advice.

- I just bought OmniFocus for Mac Desktop and OmniFocus for iPhone (I'm using iPhone 3G on AT&T) this week.
- Been using them for about 2-3 days now.
- I'm sync'ing via WebDAV using the free SwissDisk account I found mentioned on the forums
- I'm sync'ing ONLY my Macbook desktop client and the iPhone together - nothing else.

My iphone sync is taking 30-45 seconds or so (to sometimes a couple minutes) (even on WiFi). I checked my stats and they were showing:
- 15 projects
- 44 actions
- stored in 267 zip files

Then I found advice in this thread to sync both clients twice each within one hour. So I sync'd both of them twice, alternating from Macbook to iphone sync, and did all these syncs back to back to compact the database. Now my stats show:
-17 projects
- 51 actions
- stored in 299 zip files!!

Why in the world would I have almost 300 zip files? I have nothing to archive - I just started using the software 2 days ago. I've only crossed off about 6-8 actions as complete.

I will note that I have had TWO crashes of OmniFocus on my Mac after I open my Macbook and it's been hibernated. Maybe that's a culprit?
 
Every time you make a change to an action or a project, you create another zip file. The total number of actions and projects you have is mostly irrelevant to the zip file count. What matters is how many changes you make between database compactions. More frequent syncing of all your devices tends to cause more frequent compactions.
 
Fireproof, crashes shouldn't cause a problem with the sync process - it's designed in such a manner that unexpectedly quitting the sync early doesn't cause problems. It just picks up where it left off next time it syncs. (If your crash reports were sent in and you'd like the support ninja to have a look at them, they'll be happy to do so.)

That said, if you open the Sync prefs on your Mac and press the "Show Clients" button, how many entries appear in that list, and what's the earliest "Last Synced" date?

As Bill mentioned, changes create new zip files. In addition to changes you make yourself, changes the software does on it's own will also create zip files. (Examples: when an action goes from unavailable to available, or from due soon to overdue.)

In general, any files that both the Mac and iPhone know about should go away if they're at least an hour old. It's possible that those zip files are just being created very quickly as you move stuff around and settle in to OmniFocus.

I don't think you're seeing a number of files that are way out of line with normal but if you see the number of files go up and up without ever getting smaller, let us know and we're happy to investigate.

As to sync times, some of it is undoubtedly the phone, but if the server is just taking a while to respond, that's not something we can address in the app. It's not uncommon for me to see sync times like that when I sync with my iDisk, for example.
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Brian View Post
Fireproof, crashes shouldn't cause a problem with the sync process - it's designed in such a manner that unexpectedly quitting the sync early doesn't cause problems. It just picks up where it left off next time it syncs. (If your crash reports were sent in and you'd like the support ninja to have a look at them, they'll be happy to do so.)
Thanks for the note Brian - that's great to know. I did submit the crash report just in case (since it happened twice).

Quote:
That said, if you open the Sync prefs on your Mac and press the "Show Clients" button, how many entries appear in that list, and what's the earliest "Last Synced" date?
Just two are listed as mentioned above - my Macbook Pro and my iPhone. And when I checked this earlier, the latest sync times were both just 5 minutes prior and the same because I had re-sync'd a few times trying to make sure everything was sync'd and compact.

Quote:
As Bill mentioned, changes create new zip files. In addition to changes you make yourself, changes the software does on it's own will also create zip files. (Examples: when an action goes from unavailable to available, or from due soon to overdue.)

In general, any files that both the Mac and iPhone know about should go away if they're at least an hour old. It's possible that those zip files are just being created very quickly as you move stuff around and settle in to OmniFocus.

I don't think you're seeing a number of files that are way out of line with normal but if you see the number of files go up and up without ever getting smaller, let us know and we're happy to investigate.

As to sync times, some of it is undoubtedly the phone, but if the server is just taking a while to respond, that's not something we can address in the app. It's not uncommon for me to see sync times like that when I sync with my iDisk, for example.
Okay - thanks for all the info and advice. I'm sure you guys are tired of answering the same things over and over. I just wanted to make sure nothing was out of whack.

My zip file count has stabilized at 300. So I don't have a runaway zip file problem. And FWIW, my sync time now is suddenly much faster. So I'm wondering if most of it was just a server issue this afternoon.

I was just concerned that my files were out of whack. Hopefully it's just a false alarm.

Apart from being a sync'ing newbie - I love both pieces of software and the money was well spent. Can't wait to get really fluent with everything!

Thanks again.
 
My advice is to leave OmniFocus open on your Desktop as much as possible and then on your iPhone overnight (assuming you leave it plugged in and charging). I find that, normally, when I wake up in the morning my database has compacted down to 1 or 2 zip files.
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by JKT View Post
My advice is to leave OmniFocus open on your Desktop as much as possible and then on your iPhone overnight (assuming you leave it plugged in and charging). I find that, normally, when I wake up in the morning my database has compacted down to 1 or 2 zip files.
OOh - that's interesting. I'll do it tonight and report back. :)
 
 


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